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Which movie did you watch today and how would you rate it?
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MarkW
Senior Member
Brick Mansions
6.5/10
A remake of the French film District 13, both were produced and written by Luc Besson. Like most of Besson's films, this one is not terribly deep (not to mention derivative). Also like most Besson films, it has action that is almost non-stop, and is reasonably entertaining if that's what you're in the mood for. A couple of distinctive notes: 1) As in the French film, David Belle, often considered the founder of parkour, is one of the leads, which means that the film's many chase scenes have some distinctive elements. 2) This was the final film Paul Walker completed prior to his death.
6.5/10
A remake of the French film District 13, both were produced and written by Luc Besson. Like most of Besson's films, this one is not terribly deep (not to mention derivative). Also like most Besson films, it has action that is almost non-stop, and is reasonably entertaining if that's what you're in the mood for. A couple of distinctive notes: 1) As in the French film, David Belle, often considered the founder of parkour, is one of the leads, which means that the film's many chase scenes have some distinctive elements. 2) This was the final film Paul Walker completed prior to his death.
It has it good and points
pro better than the first movie.
con it all jurassic movies they think they can control dangerous dinosaurs. and take advange for profit. in jurassic world
pro the wonder of seeing a live dino
con you know which will die but the main characters survive
Bacillus anthracis
Member
The Hole
This started out as a really good movie. It has its inconsistencies, but they're forgivable enough because the characters are developed pretty fast and pretty well.
Oh, it's about two brothers and a girl next door who discover a hole to Hell/Darkest Fears that exists in the bottom of a basement that the brothers and their single mom have just moved into. It gets creepy fast and maintains a good pace until about 3/4 of the way through. Then it falls apart like a cartoon jalopy with the wheels shooting off in every direction while the driver's ejected into the sky.
Given the level of creep that's established as well as the quality of the filmmaking, there's too much of the old No One Would Ever Fucking Do That In That Situation. I'm a grown man with three kids and I would have ran screaming after the first experience with one of the Hole's denizens.
There's also an interesting ancillary character who I'm pretty sure the director forgot about. You expect to find out what happens to him, but he's just disappeared.
Anyway, if you like scary movies, this one does an excellent job until there's about 30 minutes left. I suggest that you shut the movie off at that point and just imagine how the rest of it goes. It'll definitely be better than what actually happens.
5.5/10
This started out as a really good movie. It has its inconsistencies, but they're forgivable enough because the characters are developed pretty fast and pretty well.
Oh, it's about two brothers and a girl next door who discover a hole to Hell/Darkest Fears that exists in the bottom of a basement that the brothers and their single mom have just moved into. It gets creepy fast and maintains a good pace until about 3/4 of the way through. Then it falls apart like a cartoon jalopy with the wheels shooting off in every direction while the driver's ejected into the sky.
Given the level of creep that's established as well as the quality of the filmmaking, there's too much of the old No One Would Ever Fucking Do That In That Situation. I'm a grown man with three kids and I would have ran screaming after the first experience with one of the Hole's denizens.
There's also an interesting ancillary character who I'm pretty sure the director forgot about. You expect to find out what happens to him, but he's just disappeared.
Anyway, if you like scary movies, this one does an excellent job until there's about 30 minutes left. I suggest that you shut the movie off at that point and just imagine how the rest of it goes. It'll definitely be better than what actually happens.
5.5/10
credoconsolans
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Here's a movie I haven't seen in years. It was hyperviolent back in the days BQT (before Quentin Tarantino), but now seems pretty tame.
But it was a good story, and it's something Hollywood can redo and probably make it even better.
The Hidden starring Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Nouri
7/10
But it was a good story, and it's something Hollywood can redo and probably make it even better.
The Hidden starring Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Nouri
7/10
MarkW
Senior Member
Cutthroat Island
7/10
A famous box-office bomb, and a famously troubled production--but it is actually pretty entertaining. The script is a bit of a mess, but it makes at least as much sense as Pirates of the Caribbean, and this film gives you all the elements that you'd expect in a pirate movie. You have secret maps that lead to hidden treasure, the clash of swords and the roar of cannon, pirates who are lovable rogues and others with hearts as black as coal--plus you have the twist of a female lead. Geena Davis makes a plausible buccaneer, but the memorable parts here are Frank Langella as a deliciously evil villain, and a rousing score from John Debney that is firmly in the Korngold tradition.
7/10
A famous box-office bomb, and a famously troubled production--but it is actually pretty entertaining. The script is a bit of a mess, but it makes at least as much sense as Pirates of the Caribbean, and this film gives you all the elements that you'd expect in a pirate movie. You have secret maps that lead to hidden treasure, the clash of swords and the roar of cannon, pirates who are lovable rogues and others with hearts as black as coal--plus you have the twist of a female lead. Geena Davis makes a plausible buccaneer, but the memorable parts here are Frank Langella as a deliciously evil villain, and a rousing score from John Debney that is firmly in the Korngold tradition.
Agree with this. They did an awesome job. If someone had told me a week ago that I'd be moved to tears by the sacrifice of a cotton candy elephant with a squirrel's tail, I would have challenged their claim. They would have been right, though.
Bacillus anthracis
Member
The Dinosaur Movie Jurassic Whatever
The only thing I have different to offer in terms of review is this: if a movie would have ever been made with George W. Bush as a superhero it was this one. Chris Pratt plays W. as a muscular, dinosaur trainin', at one with naturin', gun fightin', woman gettin', resoursefulnessin' manly motherfucker. And his woman's got red hair and big hooters. And she's classy too. You can tell because she never takes her high-heel lady shoes off the entire time.
Badass special effects with some surprisingly shocking violence--that was the awesome part. And it is awesome.
The rest? It's an island full of the most incompetent, unaware dipshits to ever curse a movie screen. And I think they bought the script at a yard sale.
George W. Bush Parts: 45/10
People eating, dinosaur fighting parts: 9/10
The rest: a black hole
The only thing I have different to offer in terms of review is this: if a movie would have ever been made with George W. Bush as a superhero it was this one. Chris Pratt plays W. as a muscular, dinosaur trainin', at one with naturin', gun fightin', woman gettin', resoursefulnessin' manly motherfucker. And his woman's got red hair and big hooters. And she's classy too. You can tell because she never takes her high-heel lady shoes off the entire time.
Badass special effects with some surprisingly shocking violence--that was the awesome part. And it is awesome.
The rest? It's an island full of the most incompetent, unaware dipshits to ever curse a movie screen. And I think they bought the script at a yard sale.
George W. Bush Parts: 45/10
People eating, dinosaur fighting parts: 9/10
The rest: a black hole
Thomas II
Contributor
Pop & Me (Documentary) 7/10
Father and son filmmaking team Richard and Chris Roe traveled around the world talking to fathers and sons...
Father and son filmmaking team Richard and Chris Roe traveled around the world talking to fathers and sons...
Sarpedon
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Killing Zoe - 3/10
Not only being horribly misnamed (not only does Zoe survive, the prospect of her being killed is not even a major theme of the movie, given that the protagonist is unaware of her presence in the bank until the action packed climax), this is one movie that gets worse the more you think about it. At what point does character stupidity end and plot holes begin? Sure you can dismiss the criminals ludicrous escape plan (which was apparently to wheel a gigantic cart of gold out of the front door of the bank, load it up into their truck sitting in the street, and drive off-they totally forgot to even bring a ramp) but the gold obviously got into the bank somehow, so there must be a loading dock...but everyone, including the police, behaves as if the bank has only the one entrance and exit. This is just one example.
Not only being horribly misnamed (not only does Zoe survive, the prospect of her being killed is not even a major theme of the movie, given that the protagonist is unaware of her presence in the bank until the action packed climax), this is one movie that gets worse the more you think about it. At what point does character stupidity end and plot holes begin? Sure you can dismiss the criminals ludicrous escape plan (which was apparently to wheel a gigantic cart of gold out of the front door of the bank, load it up into their truck sitting in the street, and drive off-they totally forgot to even bring a ramp) but the gold obviously got into the bank somehow, so there must be a loading dock...but everyone, including the police, behaves as if the bank has only the one entrance and exit. This is just one example.
angelo
Deleted
Along Came Polly. A great vehicle for the at times hilarious Ben Stiller and Jennifer Astin.
Jimmy Higgins
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Guardians of the Galaxy - Know nothing of the original material. I found the movie enjoyable and was pleasantly surprised by Bautista's performance. Sure, while not Shakespeare, he delivered a good performance and typically the best lines. Suffers from the typical comic book plot things, but overall, liked the film. They'd need to work really hard though for a follow up to work.
3 of 4
3 of 4
Ford
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Chronicle
Three Seattle teenagers discover something (alien artifact perhaps) in a cave that gives them telekinetic powers. The power starts small, and as it grows, so does their hubris.
The title comes from the fact that the movie is seen through the video camera of the main character, who is obsessed with recording everything. And that's the weakness of the film. It starts out with just his camera, but then they have to introduce another character who is also recording everything for her "blog," then it switches to security cam footage, and it never really lets go of this "you're looking through a camera" premise. The story - again, teenagers get superpowers - takes a backseat to this kind of half-ass found footage concept.
5/10
Three Seattle teenagers discover something (alien artifact perhaps) in a cave that gives them telekinetic powers. The power starts small, and as it grows, so does their hubris.
The title comes from the fact that the movie is seen through the video camera of the main character, who is obsessed with recording everything. And that's the weakness of the film. It starts out with just his camera, but then they have to introduce another character who is also recording everything for her "blog," then it switches to security cam footage, and it never really lets go of this "you're looking through a camera" premise. The story - again, teenagers get superpowers - takes a backseat to this kind of half-ass found footage concept.
5/10
KeepTalking
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Terminator Genisys
7.5/10
Terminator Genisys is a solid addition to the Terminator pantheon. It is a continuation from the first two movies, and largely ignores the 3rd and 4th movies, which is a good thing. There are great action sequences throughout, though they are often peppered with highly improbable physics. Although many of the early plot twists are expected from the previews, the big one that came midway through the film was truly surprising to me. I would say that overall it rates very close to the first two movies, probably not quite as good as either of those vaunted scifi films, but light years above 3 and 4.
7.5/10
Terminator Genisys is a solid addition to the Terminator pantheon. It is a continuation from the first two movies, and largely ignores the 3rd and 4th movies, which is a good thing. There are great action sequences throughout, though they are often peppered with highly improbable physics. Although many of the early plot twists are expected from the previews, the big one that came midway through the film was truly surprising to me. I would say that overall it rates very close to the first two movies, probably not quite as good as either of those vaunted scifi films, but light years above 3 and 4.
I'd give it a 4/10. While I agree with you that it was light years above 3 and 4, that's like praising somebody by saying he was a better President than George W Bush - it's not any kind of indication of quality. It did have some solid action scenes here and there and it was watchable when Arnie was on the screen, but Sarah and Reese were both horrible and the movie wasn't able to pull off what Jurassic World did by having quality action make you forget what a festering turd the rest of the film was.
Jimmy Higgins
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My problem is that in order to care about a movie series, I have to have some feeling that the events unfolding will actually matter in the timeline of the films. But ultimately, none of the movies seemed to matter, so why watch a remix of T2? The Terminator series seems to base its existence on trying to explain why the last film didn't make a difference.
KeepTalking
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In response to both of the above, it all depends on how you view time travel, which of course has no real world basis on which to pin any take. I look at it as the act of travelling in time creates a new reality, or another dimension, and if you have this view then the movies are consistent. Take the original Terminator movie for example. Before John Conner sent Kyle Reese back in time to save his mother, John Conner was born, and existed in their timeline. He couldn't have been conceived by Kyle Reese originally, as Kyle did not exist at that time in the original timeline from which John Conner was born. So, the John Conner from second movie could not have been the same John Conner as in the first movie, they had to have had different fathers. Terminators travelling even further back into Sarah Conner's past spin off another timeline, and each act of time travel does the same.
I enjoyed the movie thoroughly, and I disagree that the acting was bad in any way. It seemed to me that Sarah and Kyle both had very realistic reactions to how they were expected to hook up and create a progeny. There was only one place at the very end that seems contrived in that regard, and that is the fault of the script, and the screenwriter's need to produce an 'everything is perfect' ending, and not the fault of the actors.
But it's the circular and paradoxial nature of time travel which was the point of the first two movies - both of which were in the same timeline. The John Connor from T2 is the same John Connor talked about in T1 since Sarah didn't have a son who fought the machines in a future without the machines. The reason that there was Judgement Day was because of the advances in robotics Cyberdine was able to make due to studying the chip of the original Terminator. If Skynet hadn't sent it back in time, it wouldn't have been created, the same way that John wouldn't have existed to send Reese back in time if he hadn't sent Reese back in time. It's only after they destroyed Cyberdine Systems at the end of T2 that a new timeline was created.
It's trying to write stories about that and plugging these new timelines into the original concept where the notion fell apart and that's why the three movies after T2 were absolute garbage (also because of the lack of involvement of James Cameron who is apparently the only person who can do a Terminator movie well). It's true that we have no real world bases to pin any take of the concept on, but that doesn't stop us from being able to say "This take was lame and stupid". As an example, the T5 one was sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor. The only reason for that was so that she would live long enough to give birth to John Connor. When it activated the time machine and sent Sarah and Reese into the future with no saviour baby being made, it failed its mission. Since the entire premise of all the Terminator movies was "keep John Connor alive so he can go on to lead the fight against the machines", a plotline which involves the good guys ensuring that he's never born completely eliminates the rationale for everything that's ever been done in the series.
I agree with you that the problems with Sarah and Reese were script problems and not actor problems, since both of them have been excellent in other things and they just had absolutely nothing to work with. The reason that they were horrible doesn't change the fact that they were horrible.